Installation on OS X

Python package

1. Install a proper Python version (see issue #39 for a discussion regarding the required Python version on OS X):

   sudo port select python python27-apple
   

   Homebrew may be used here:

   brew install python
   

   Note

   There are three variants of the powerline client. The fastest is written in C and will be compiled if the compiler and libraries are detected during installation. The second fastest option is powerline.sh which requires socat and coreutils. coreutils may be installed using brew install coreutils. If neither of these are viable, then Powerline will utilize a fallback client written in Python.

2. Install Powerline using one of the following commands:

   pip install --user powerline-status
   

   will get current release version and

   pip install --user git+https://github.com/powerline/powerline
   

   will get latest development version.

   Warning

   When using brew install to install Python one must not supply --user flag to pip.

   Note

   Due to the naming conflict with an unrelated project powerline is named powerline-status in PyPI.

   Note

   Powerline developers should be aware that pip install --editable does not currently fully work. Installation performed this way are missing powerline executable that needs to be symlinked. It will be located in scripts/powerline.

Vim installation

Any terminal vim version with Python 3.2+ or Python 2.6+ support should work, but MacVim users need to install it using the following command:

brew install macvim --env-std --with-override-system-vim

Fonts installation

To install patched font double-click the font file in Finder, then click Install this font in the preview window.

After installing the patched font MacVim or terminal emulator (whatever application powerline should work with) need to be configured to use the patched font. The correct font usually ends with for Powerline.